Crowns comprising push-button inside of them



1968 KIYOSHI HASH 3,418,800

CRONNS COMPRISING PUSH-BUTTON INSIDE OF THEM Filed Oct. 4, 1967 f F/ a. 5

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ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,418,800 CROWNS COMPRISING PUSH-BUTTON INSIDE OF THEM Kiyoshi Hashii, Tokyo, Japan, assignor to Kabushiki Kaisha Daini Seikosha, Tokyo, Japan Filed Oct. 4, 1967, Ser. No. 672,888 5 Claims. (CI. 5863) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A crown assembly for watches including a hollow rotary crown formed with a bore passing axially through said crown and having at least in the region of its outer end face a non-circular cross section, and an elongated stem-actuating member disposed within said crown bore and having an outer portion of the same non-circular cross section as that of said bore region. The stem actuating member is axially displaceable in an inwardly direction independently of the crown when it is pushed on its outer end face to perform a first operation, said stemactuating member and crown being rotatable and axially displaceable together in connection with two further operations.

Background of the invention The present invention relates to watches.

In particular, the invention relates to crown assemblies for watches.

As is well known the crown assembly of a watch is used in connection with operations such as winding a mainspring of the watch or setting the hands thereof. However, some watches are also provided at the crown assembly with a push-button type of mechanism which can be pushed inwardly so as to then bring about actuation of a calendar mechanism which is inside the watch movement.

With conventional watches of this type the calendar mechanism is actuated by the crown or the push button but only when the crown or the push button is pressed inwardly. Therefore, if the crown or the push button is inadvertently pressed inwardly there will be an unintentional actuation of the calendar mechanism. This undesirable feature is present in conventional watches primarily because the calendar-actuating push button or the crown projects outwardly beyond the watch case so that it can be inadvertently pushed in when the watch is carried on the wrist, placed on a table, or the like.

Summary of the invention It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to provide a construction which will avoid the above drawbacks.

In particular, it is an object of the invention to provide a construction which will reliably prevent inadvertent actuation of the calendar mechanism while at the same time maintaining all of the components of the watch simple and rugged and highly reliable in their operation.

Furthermore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a construction which can reliably guarantee a seal which will maintain the interior of the watch both water-tight and dust-tight.

In addition, it is an object of the present invention to provide a construction which will reliably return a stemactuating member to its rest position.

In accordance with the invention the structure includes a hollow rotary crown formed with an axial bore passing therethrough, this crown having an outer end face and a bore which passes therethrough has at least in the region of the outer end face of the crown a non-circular cross section. An elongated stem-actuating member extends coaxially with the crown into the interior thereof where this stem-actuating member has an outer end portion of non-circular cross section mating with that of the portion of the bore of the crown which is in the region of the outer end face thereof, and this outer end portion of the stem-actuating member is received slidably in the latter bore portion, so that the stem-actuating member is constrained to rotate together with the crown when the crown is rotated, while the stem-actuating member is axially displaceable independently of the crown when it is pushed on its outer end face. The axial displacement of the stem actuates the date corrector of the calendar mechanism not shown in the drawing to correct the date. A spring means coacts with the stem-actuatingmember for urging the latter outwardly with respect to the crown in a direction which displaces an outer end face of the stem-actuating member toward the outer end face of the crown, and a limiting means coacts with the stem-actuating member for limiting the outward movement thereof to an end position where the outer end face of the stemactuating member does not project outwardly beyond the outer end face of the crown. In this way, there is no projecting part of the stem-actuating member which can be displaced inwardly in an inadvertent manner.

Still other objects and advantages of the invention will in part be obvious and will in part be apparent from the specification.

The invention accordingly comprises the features of construction, combinations of elements, and arrangement of parts which will be exemplified in the constructions hereinafter set forth, and the scope of the invention will be indicated in the claims.

Brief description of the drawings For a fuller understanding of the invention, reference is had to the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary sectional elevation illustrating the details of the crown assembly of the invention and showing part of the watch structure which carried the same;

FIG. 2 is an end view of the crown assembly as seen when looking toward the outer end thereof;

FIG. 3 is another embodiment of the structure illustrated in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is yet a further embodiment of the structure illustrated in FIG. 2; and

FIG. 5 shows yet another embodiment of the structure illustrated in FIG. 2.

Description of preferred embodiments Referring now to FIG. 1, the crown assembly illustrated therein includes a hollow rotary crown 1 provided with an exterior knurled surface g, as is conventional. This crown 1 is formed with an axial bore passing therethrough, and this axial bore has at least in the region of the outer end face of the crown a non-circular cross section which in the example of FIGS. 1 and 2 is shown as being square. In its interior the crown 1 is formed with an inwardly directed shoulder a, and the bore of the crown 1 is of a circular configuration inwardly of the shoulder a while being of a square configuration outwardly of the shoulder a. At its inner end the crown 1 is provided with an inwardly directed lip c for a purpose referred to below.

An elongated stem-actuating member 2 is situated within the bore of the crown 1 and extends coaxially of the latter inwardly beyond the same where this stem-actuating member 2 extends through a stationary tube 6 which is also coaxial with the crown 1. At its innermost part the elongated stem-actuating member 2 is formed with a tapped bore d by means of which the stem-actuating member 2 is connected to a watch stem which in response to rotary and axial movement of the stem-actuating member 2 will bring about such operations as winding of the mainspring, setting of the hands, and actuating a calendar mechanism as is well known. Within the tube 6 the stemactuating member 2 is formed with an annular groove e in which a sealing ring is located, and the exterior of the sealing ring 5 frictionally presses against the inner surface of the tube 6 so as to seal the interior of the movement in this way in a water-tight dust-tight manner.

The stem-actuating member 2 has an elongated portion of reduced diameter which extends through the tube 6, While at its outer end portion the stem-actuating member 2 is of an enlarged cross section mating with the crosssectional configuration of the outer portion of the bore of the crown 1. Thus, the stem-actuating member 2 has an outer end portion a of square configuration slidably received in and mating with the square portion of the bore of the crown 1. This stem-actuating portion has an inner portion b which is of circular cross section and slidably engagesthe part of the bore of the crown 1 situated inwardly beyond the shoulder a thereof, and between its portions 21 and b the stem-actuating member 2 is formed with an outwardly directed shoulder which is pressed against the inwardly directed shoulder a of the crown 1 by a spring means 3. The inwardly directed lip c fixedly mounts in the interior of the crown 1 a washer 4 which surrounds the tube 6 with clearance and against which one end of the spring 3 presses, the opposite end of the spring 3 engaging an inner surface of the stem-actuating member 2 for urging the latter outwardly to the position illustrated in FIG. 1 where a limiting means formed by the coacting shoulders of the crown and stem-actuating member acts to limit the outward movement of the stemactuating member by the spring means to the outer end position shown in FIG. 1.

In this outer end position of the stem-actuating member 2 its outer end face h does not project outwardly beyond the outer end face of the crown, and in the illustrated example it is shown as being flush therewith. However, the outer end face h of stem-actuating member 2 is not covered by the crown as shown in FIGS. 2-5 and, whether flush or recessed inwardly of the outer end face of the crown, can be pressed by means of a fingernail or something pointed.

The corners of the outer end portion a of the stemactuating member 2 are rounded, as indicated at f in FIG. 2, so as to compensate for manufacturing tolerances, thus assuring a proper sliding fit of the stem-actuating member 2 at its portion a in the outer non-circular bore portion of the crown 1.

The tube 6 is fixedly carried by and extends through the body 7 of the watchcase, and this body 7 serves in a known way to connect the crystal 8 to the watchcase.

The outer bore portion of the crown 1 and the outer portion a of the stem-actuating member 2 can have any desired mating non-circular cross sections. Thus, instead of the square cross section shown in FIG. 2, it is possible to utilize a triangular cross section, shown in FIG. 3, a hexagonal cross section, shown in FIG. 4, or an oval cross section, shown in FIG. 5.

With the structure of the invention when it is desired to wind the mainspring the operator need only rotate the crown 1 in a conventional manner, and the rotary movement will be transmitted by way of the stem-actuating member 2 to the stem which is connected to the stemactuating member. In order to'set the hands of the watch the crown 1 is pulled out, as is conventional, and then it is turned together with the stem-actuating member 2 so as to set the Watch hands in a conventional manner. It will be noted that with this construction the stem-actuating member 2 will necessarily be displaceable axially independently of the crown 1 when its outer end face h is pushed, as by a fingernail or pointed implement, to operate the calendar mechanism.

In order to operate the calendar mechanism the operator need only displace the outer portion a of the stem-actuating member 2 inwardly with respect to the crown 1 by pushing its outer end face h, and at this time the stemactuating member 2 is displaced inwardly in opposition to the spring 3. In this way the stem-actuating member can act through the stem which is connected thereto in order to actuate the calendar mechanism, also in a well known manner. Thus, in all cases rotary movement of the crown 1 is transmitted to the interior of the movement through the stem-actuating member 2, while in the case of actuating the calendar mechanism the stem-actuating member 2 is independently displaced axially with respect to the crown 1. Thus, the crown 1 of the invention functions in the same way as conventional crowns. However, because the outer end face it of the stem-actuating member 2 does not project outwardly beyond the outer end face of the crown 1 it is not possible to bring about inadvertent inward displacement of the stem-actuating member 2 with respect to the crown 1, so that in this way inadvertent actuation of the calendar mechanism is reliably avoided.

After t'he calendar mechanism is actuated the operator need only release the stem-actuating member 2 and the spring 3 will automatically return it to its initial position. With this construction it is possible to push the stemactuating member 2 inwardly many times in succession.

If the crown is inadvertently pushed during carrying of the watch on the wrist or when the watch is placed in a given location or even accidently dropped, it is the crown which is engaged and not the stem-actuating member 2, so that accidental displacement thereof cannot take place.

Furthermore, in the event that the spring in the interior of the watch movement which is required to return the stem to its initial position becomes too weak to carry out this function, after the stem is pushed, it may not be possible for the stem to be returned because of the frictional resistance provided by the sealing ring 5, but with the structure of the invention the spring 3 will reliably guarantee that the parts will always return to their proper initial position.

It will thus be seen that the objects set forth above, among those made apparent from the preceding description, are efficiently attained and, since certain changes may be made in the above construction without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

It is also to be understood that the following claims are intended to cover all of the generic and specific features of the invention herein described, and all statements of the scope of the invention which, as a matter of language, might be said to fall therebetween.

What is claimed is:

1. In a watch, a hollow rotary crown having an outer end face and being formed with an axial bore which passes through said crown and which at least in the region of said outer end face thereof is of a non-circular crosssection, an elongated stem-actuating member extending coaxially of said crown from the interior thereof inwardly beyond said crown through an end of said bore opposite from said end face of said crown, said stem-actuating member having in the region of said end face of said crown an outer portion also having an exposed end face and having a cross section mating with that of said bore in the region of said outer end face of said crown and slidable in said portion of said bore so that the stemactuating member is constrained to rotate together with the crown when the crown is rotated, while the stemactu-ating member is axially displaceable independently of the crown when it is pushed on its outer end face, spring means coacting with said stem-actuating member for urging the latter outwardly of said crown to urge said outer end face of said stem-actuating member toward said outer end face of said crown and limiting means limiting movement of said stem-actuating member by said spring means to an outer end position where said outer end face of said stem-actuating member does not extend outwardly beyond said outer end face of said crown, whereby said stem-actuating member and crown can turn together and can be axially displaced together in connection with operations such as spring-winding operations and hand setting operations, while said stem-actuating member can be displaced inwardly with respect to said crown to an axial position with respect thereto where said stemactuating member will carry out a third operation such as actuation of a calendar mechanism.

2. The combination of claim 1 and wherein said limiting means includes an inwardly directed shoulder formed in the interior of said crown at said bore thereof and an outwardly directed shoulder formed at an exterior sur face portion of said stem-actuating member, said outwardly directed shoulder being pressed into engagement with said inwardly directed shoulder by said spring means.

3. The combination of claim 2 and wherein said bore of said crown and the exterior of said stem-actuating memher are both of a circular cross section inwardly of said shoulders thereof.

4. The combination of claim 3 and wherein said crown has opposite from said outer end face thereof an inwardly directed lip, a washer engaged by said lip to be maintained thereby in said crown, and said spring means including a spring surrounding said stem-actuating member and situated between and engaging said washer and said Outer portion of said stem-actuating member.

5. The combination of claim 1 and wherein said stemactuating member carries inwardly beyond said crown an exterior sealing ring, and a tube surrounding said stem-actuating member and engaged by said sealing ring, said spring overcoming the force of friction of said sealing ring at said tube.

References Cited FOREIGN PATENTS 1,074,380 7/ 1967 Great Britain. 1,177,078 8/ 1964 Germany.

331,895 9/ 1958 Switzerland.

RICHARD B. WILKINSON, Primary Examiner.

GEO. H. MILLER, J R., Assistant Examiner. 

